This is not an all-star team. Don’t confuse it with one. If you do, you’ll very easily miss the point of this.

Baseball is a team game. The teams that have come through PNC Field and been the most successful — and there are plenty of them — haven’t always been the ones with the biggest stars.

Scan the 25 names I chose to be on my all-time Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise team, and it’s clear some of them didn’t go on to become big league stars. There’s no Curt Schilling nor Roger Clemens on the pitching staff. No Derek Jeter in the infield. No Darren Daulton behind the plate or John Kruk leading the charges in the clubhouse.

As the franchise celebrates the 25th anniversary of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre baseball this weekend though, it’s certainly the most fitting time to look back. As we do, it’s fun to wonder what the best team — assembled completely using players who have played in a Red Barons, Yankees or RailRiders uniform — would look like.

A few rules before we go on:

■ Anybody who wore the local uniform for just a game was considered. The real factor was the type of impact made on their teams in the time they were here.

■ A player couldn’t make the team at a position he didn’t play with SWB. Torey Lovullo, for instance, played some shortstop during his career before playing with the Red Barons during his epic 1999 season. But he played practically all of that season at second base. So to make this team, he had to do it as a second baseman.

■ The roster had to be put together like an actual general manager would put together a team contending for a championship. Even if the four best infielders in team history played first base, they can’t all make the team. No team puts four first basemen on a 25-man roster. There had to be defensive flexibility. There had to be utility guys and speed guys and role players and long relievers and setup men.

Starting pitching

Brandon Duckworth (15-3, 2.72)

Kei Igawa (32-22, 3.76)

Ivan Nova (16-9, 3.45)

Joe Roa (14-0, 1.86)

Mike Williams (20-11, 3.61)

The one thing all five of these starters had in common: They all were the ace of a team that won big.

Williams went 9-1 with a 2.43 ERA in 1992, when the Red Barons played for their first Governor’s Cup. Then the right-hander went 9-2 with a 2.87 ERA the next season for a far inferior team, which earns him the honor of being Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s all-time ace, on this team.

Nova was 12-3 for the 2010 North Division champion Yankees, two years after Igawa went 14-6 with a 3.45 ERA for the franchise’s only Governor’s Cup champion.

Duckworth and Roa both pitched the Red Barons to division titles, too: Duckworth in 2001, when he went 13-2 with a 2.63 ERA and Roa during his magical 14-0 season in 2002, when the Red Barons set the franchise’s wins record at 91.

Right-hander Andy Ashby and lefty Brian Mazone were the other two pitchers who received strong consideration. But while I’m sure Yankees fans will argue that one of them should replace Igawa because he was a big waste of George Steinbrenner’s otherwise always-well-spent money, the numbers don’t support it.

Bullpen

Jonathan Albaladejo (7-2, 1.52, 54 saves)

Jay Baller (8-9, 3.32, 39 saves)

Dellin Betances (9-12, 3.01)

Todd Frohwirth (12-9, 2.81, 28 saves)

Dan Giese (23-13, 3.13)

Chuck Ricci (8-6, 3.26, 31 saves)

Wally Ritchie (13-7, 3.90)

Brian Sanches (8-6, 3.26, 20 saves)

Again, closing out games for great teams were a big consideration when it came to filling the back end of the bullpen, and because he saved an amazing 54 games in 55 chances during the 2010 pennant drive, Albaladejo was the easy choice as the all-time closer.

But Baller, a fan favorite during the ’92 season, and Ricci deserve spots getting big outs late in games, too.

Betances is the only RailRiders representative on the team, but he had a 1.93 ERA as a two-inning, middle-innings reliever last season, striking out 85 batters in 60⅔ innings. Nobody has ever been that dominant in that role for this franchise.

Sanches was a similarly durable right-hander who could get more than three outs, and the side-arming Frohwirth was brutal on right-handers in the franchise’s early years. Giese, one of just a handful of players to play for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the Phillies and Yankees years, earned the spot as the long reliever.

Catchers

Jesus Montero (.290, 52 2B, 39 HR, 142 RBI)

Carlos Ruiz (.303, 50 2B, 20 HR, 109 RBI)

The real decision here was who would be the backup, because Ruiz was so good for so long, he deserved the starting spot.

Chooch was as consistent as it gets in 2005 and 2006, hitting .300 his first year and .307 the next. Behind the plate, he threw out 35 percent of baserunners in 2006, and became the catcher pitchers wanted behind the plate when they were on the hill. His All-Star status in the big leagues cemented the decision.

Both Mike Lieberthal and Bobby Estalella received consideration as the backup. But Lieberthal’s offensive numbers were only OK, and his defense improved only as his All-Star career in the big leagues progressed. Estalella was an offensive catcher, but his numbers didn’t quite measure up to Montero’s.

Infielders

David Doster (.284, 147 2B, 39 HR, 368 RBI, 58 SB)

P.J. Forbes (.288, 69 2B, 8 HR, 135 RBI, 16 SB)

Ryan Howard (.326, 29 2B, 25 HR, 83 RBI)

Jimmy Rollins (.269, 29 2B, 11 3B, 12 HR, 69 RBI, 25 SB)

Gene Schall (.283, 133 2B, 16 3B, 86 HR, 381 RBI)

Chase Utley (.294, 73 2B, 41 HR, 172 RBI, 22 SB)

The core of the Phillies’ infield during its time as the best team in the National League and, in 2008, the best in all of baseball is not surprisingly the core of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre offense on this team. Howard gets the start at first, because he did all his damage in with the Red Barons during just 90 games in 2003 and 2004. Rollins’ one season in 2001 was one of the most complete in team history, and it could be argued that no player has ever been as dominant in a Red Barons uniform as Utley was during the 2002-04 seasons.

Doster and Schall, who rank first and second respectively on the franchise’s all-time games list, were no-brainers.

The real decisions: Rollins or Nick Punto, who had similar numbers to Rollins but didn’t drive the ball as well, and who would be the utility man. Forbes had a solid career with the Red Barons and got the nod because he could play all four infield positions and the corner outfield. But Greg Legg, Kevin Sefcik and Pablo Ozuna were all in the running.

Outfielders

Tony Barron (.298, 44 2B, 36 HR, 144 RBI)

Shelley Duncan (.275, 62 2B, 67 HR, 222 RBI)

Brett Gardner (.283, 16 2B, 15 3B, 4 HR, 41 RBI, 61 SB)

Wendell Magee Jr. (.281, 101 2B, 13 3B, 65 HR, 234 RBI, 25 SB)

Shane Victorino (.310, 25 2B, 16 3B, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 17 SB)

Again, four spots were easy, what with Magee being the quintessential longtime, productive Red Baron, Gardner sparking the Governor’s Cup champions in 2008 at the top of the order and Victorino and Duncan being the two International League MVPs the franchise has had. The fifth spot could have gone to a few different players, but Barron gets the nod because in 1997 and 1998, he had two of the biggest seasons in franchise history. Eighteen homers both years, 140 total RBIs and a .326 batting average in 1997. The man could flat out hit, and he played a little first base that season, too, which would enable the manager to use Schall and Howard as a designated hitter.

Speaking of the manager...

Manager

This was a brutal decision, because everyone who has been around the franchise knows what Marc Bombard has meant to it. This is the guy that turned it all around, the face of the franchise in so many ways.

But the pick here is Dave Miley.

The two are close friends. They are products of the Cincinnati Reds system. They have both been in the big leagues as a coach or manager. But at the end of the day, Miley has the most wins in franchise history. Bombard led those great teams in the early 2000s, and it’s his team that is the only 90-game winner. But Miley has the Governor’s Cup.

It was a close call, like with so many of these choices. But forming good teams requires a lot of tough choices. And in 25 years, isn’t it a pleasant problem to have? Too many great players. Too many great managers from which to choose.

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